# Internet billionaires ... how? Didn't everyone get their clocks cleaned?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-billionaires-how-didnt-everyone-get-their-clocks-cleaned/183860
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 23, 2003, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-billionaires-how-didnt-everyone-get-their-clocks-cleaned/183860 "2003-06-23T20:46:10Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2003, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-billionaires-how-didnt-everyone-get-their-clocks-cleaned/183860/1 "2003-06-23T20:46:10Z")
There are apparently some people who have somehow made many millions of dollars – even billions – off of the Internet. Two of the more famous ones, for example, are Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder. These men are often referred to as “Internet billionaires”. I’m sure there are some other folks in the same class.
My question is this – how did these guys make money off the Internet when everyone else got smoked? Was there really a window of opportunity when someone could have sold off lots of overvalued stocks, and made a huge tangible profit?
Or did these guys create some kind of indispensible software or hardware widely used by the Net community, and so they make their money that way?
I just hear so often that:
1. Almost no real wealth has ever been created solely on the Internet.
2. As huge of a concern as it is, [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com) STILL is not profitable (this may be outdated info).
3. The dot-com crash of 2000 wiped everyone out with impunity.
4. Many other less-memorable snippets of information along the same lines.
So … for the people that DID make fortunes off of the Net … how’d they do it??
---
### Author:  [@Purd\_Werfect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Purd_Werfect)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2003, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-billionaires-how-didnt-everyone-get-their-clocks-cleaned/183860/2 "2003-06-23T20:56:12Z")
Many people got rich by creating technology and then being bought out.
Also, high tech companies in general are often grouped in under the name “[dot.com](http://dot.com)”, and many of those had inflated prices at one time as well, especially in the area of telephony and wireless technology.
A lot of high tech companies have returned to more sane stock prices, but still offer viable products and business plans, and as a result still have decent stock value.
I know a few people who went to startups during the net boom. The wise or lucky ones cashed out all their stock as it vested, and some of them got pretty financially comfortable from it.
---
### Author:  [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2003, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-billionaires-how-didnt-everyone-get-their-clocks-cleaned/183860/3 "2003-06-23T20:58:23Z")
ebay has done pretty well.
---
### Author:  [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2003, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-billionaires-how-didnt-everyone-get-their-clocks-cleaned/183860/4 "2003-06-23T21:00:34Z")
From what I’ve understood, the people who made real money were the ones that sold all or part of their stock while the stock rates were still high. Those were the smart ones. Some of the millionaires didn’t see it coming and saw their virtual money evaporate.
---
### Author:  [@Bottle\_of\_Smoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bottle_of_Smoke)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2003, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-billionaires-how-didnt-everyone-get-their-clocks-cleaned/183860/5 "2003-06-23T21:09:24Z")
Getting out at the right time is what worked for Mark Cuban in particular. He made a fortune when his company, [Broadcast.com](http://Broadcast.com) went public and when he sold it to Yahoo at the height of the boom. Something like 300 Braodcast employees became millionaires as a result. How many of them still are would be an interesting question. But Cuban cashed in and walked away with over $2 billion.
The dot.commers who really got burned are the ones who weren’t, as Purd mentioned, wise enough or lucky enough to cash out their options before those options lost all their value when the bubble burst.
---
### Author:  [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2003, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-billionaires-how-didnt-everyone-get-their-clocks-cleaned/183860/6 "2003-06-23T21:10:03Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by sailor \*
> \*\*ebay has done pretty well. \*\*
I’ve heard this, too, come to think of it. Who’s making the money on eBay – sellers, or eBay “owners”? IS eBay actually owned in the traditional sense? Isn’t it publicly traded?
How does eBay make money for itself? They don’t seem to make any money off the transactions that it hosts … or do they?
---
### Author:  [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2003, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-billionaires-how-didnt-everyone-get-their-clocks-cleaned/183860/7 "2003-06-23T21:16:24Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by bordelond \*
> \*\*How does eBay make money for itself? They don’t seem to make any money off the transactions that it hosts … or do they? \*\*
Sure they do. They charge a fee when an item is listed and another one when it’s sold. Plus there are fees for optional services (bolding, a gallery picture, etc.) How could they stay in business if they didn’t make any money?
Zev Steinhardt
---
### Author:  [@jimmmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmmy)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2003, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-billionaires-how-didnt-everyone-get-their-clocks-cleaned/183860/8 "2003-06-23T23:38:22Z")
Point of fact Daniel Snyder is not an ‘internet billionaire’.
Snyder Communications, Inc., which he founded inm 1988 perfected niche marketing and did marketing for giants like AT&T. Also, they acquired other smaller niche marketing firms like include Medical Marketing Detailing Inc., a New York-based provider of pharmaceutical marketing services; American List Corp. of Mineola, N.Y., which maintained a database of more than 30 million students that it rented to direct-mail and telephone sales companies; Good Neighbor Direct, which provided marketing services for clients in 5,000 retail outlets; and Brann Holding Ltd., a British company that did direct marketing in that country.
In a day Redskin fans know as one of their blackest, Snyder sold Snyder Communications to another marketing firm in 2000 for $2 billion, so that he could devote himself to running the skins full time. Lucky us!
---
### Author:  [@lucwarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lucwarm)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2003, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-billionaires-how-didnt-everyone-get-their-clocks-cleaned/183860/9 "2003-06-24T01:51:12Z")
It’s true that lots of people got their clocks cleaned, but you might ask yourself - where did their money go? Much of it went into other peoples’ pockets.
Sorry to boast, but Mrs. Lucwarm & I made enough money on the internet boom to cover most of the down payment on our house.
---
### Author:  [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2003, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-billionaires-how-didnt-everyone-get-their-clocks-cleaned/183860/10 "2003-06-24T05:39:18Z")
Ironically, I used to rent videos to the guy who started [reel.com](http://reel.com). He sold out for (IIRC) 33 million bucks American, the majority in cash, about a year before the company went basically belly-up. not Gates money, but pretty nice cash…
hrh